Reap What We Sow
by ScatterKindness
Summary: Set pre-Civil War. The Avenger team is training for their next threat. They thought they had who to trust all figured out. But when a Hydra base comes back online they are confronted by a truth Fury hid and a new villain they aren't prepared for. Together the Avenger team and S.H.I.E.L.D. must face the consequences of their actions to overcome the looming threat facing them.
1. Chapter 1

At times like these Maria Hill hated her job. Bad news in the morning gave her a bad reputation among her colleagues. But it had to be said, so she'd have to just bite the bullet.

She walked through the wide halls of the Avengers facility in Upstate New York. Fury had assigned her back to the Avengers a month ago, before promptly returning to Europe to continue his overseas exploration of Hydra and S.H.I.E.L.D agents. It was very important work; without him, Hydra would still be relevant and S.H.I.E.L.D agents would most likely be running for their lives.

The compound was relatively quiet compared to Maria's life before being reassigned to the Avengers and quieter than life at S.H.I.E.L.D before it fell. She wasn't complaining, but sometimes it was a little boring. Training, preparing, and waiting was an odd way to live, constantly waiting for a threat you didn't know was coming. She was almost afraid the new team would be caught off guard when something did happen, but they would recover quickly she was sure.

As she walked to the kitchen Natasha stepped out of the gym sweaty from her workout, nodded to her and headed to the kitchen herself.

Maria's heels clicked on the floor as she entered the kitchen.

Wanda was sitting on the couch, her feet tucked under her, reading a book. As she walked by she could hear Sam and Rhodey loudly debating who had a better suit. Steve and Vision were deep in conversation which seemed to be about moral obligation based on the philosophical words she caught and intense looks on their faces. She wouldn't be surprised as it was one of their favorite subjects. Tony was sitting at the table surrounded by multiple holographic computers, paper files, blueprints, and multiple cups of coffee.

Steve looked up as Maria entered and smiled in greeting. She returned the smile and walked to the head of the table, looked down at Tony, and cleared her throat.

"Oh," Tony didn't look up, "Are we assembling? What'd Fury blow up this time?"

Maria ignored him and motioned for the other heroes to join them at the table. She stood at the head of the table and looked around at them. Some of Earth's mightiest heroes stared back, awaiting the bad news they figured she had come to deliver. She got straight to the point.

"A Hydra base has come back online. Specifically Strucker's base that held Loki's scepter. We don't know anything about who moved in so they could be harmless. Alternatively, they could be Hydra."

Disbelieving eyes blinked back at her.

"So, let me get this straight," Sam said. "Cap killed Hydra like a billion years ago and they come back, then we kill them again when they attacked S.H.I.E.L.D.-"

"Which no one invited me to," Tony interrupted, "Just saying maybe they would still be dead if you had, I am pretty awesome like that."

Sam glared, then continued. "And we took them handily when they attacked S.H.I.E.L.D., and now they're back again. Do they ever die?"

"I believe the phrase is cut off one head, two more shall take its place." Natasha leaned forward.

"If I may," Vision raised his hand.

"Yes, young Vision," Tony was still absorbed in his work. "I grant you permission to speak."

Steve glared at him.

"Previously you attacked the source. Perhaps this new base is simply a few stragglers of Hydra. They would easily be destroyed," Vision said.

"K," Tony said. "We'll take care of it." He stood up. "Thanks for giving us something to do, you know, on my break."

Tony was on 'vacation', spending a week at the compound away from his home at Stark Tower. It wasn't really a vacation, but that didn't stop him from using it to his full advantage.

"The world thanks you." Maria turned on her heel and left for the command room.


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own the Avengers.

Steve mulled it over in his mind. Hydra, back again. He'd died to destroy it, fought his best friend over it, and here it was like a recurring nightmare. The things they had done to him, to Bucky, to the world, they were unforgivable. They deserved to die, yet here they were alive, with innocent bodies at their feet. He stood up.

"Meet in the control room in one hour, dressed for combat." He left the room.

He hoped his team would be ready. After months of preparing, they should be fine. But it was easier to worry about performance malfunctions than what was really bothering him.

Hydra, home of world domination, human experimentation, and the Winter Soldier. They had turned his best friend into a weapon to kill people, to kill him, and he hadn't known. Bucky had been there for him when he had nothing, but when Bucky had been alive, tortured, changed into a monster, Steve had left him for dead. He had failed him.

The familiar feeling of loss and guilt swept over him as he slid down the wall to sit on the floor of a remote hall. His head fell to his knees. He could see it whenever he closed his eyes, the helicarriers falling apart around him, Bucky on top on him, punching him, that face he knew so well, the eyes that didn't remember him.

"I'm with you to the end of the line," he could barely remember choking out the words, then for a second he could see a glimmer of the man Bucky used to be, the one who remembered him, but then it was gone, and there was nothing but hospital beds, rehab, and people who could never understand.

He couldn't talk to anyone about it. The files from Natasha had been interesting but ultimately unhelpful. Sam had been willing to help though Steve felt it was mostly due to obligation, but they'd hit a dead end and Steve had been forced to give up actively searching. As much as Steve wanted to find Bucky, he didn't know if he could face the Winter Soldier again. He knew he couldn't take him out if it came to that, and it would probably come to that.

He stood up and left the hallway checking his watch. He'd been there for ten minutes. As the leader of the Avengers he couldn't be late, he had to set a good example. He started through the compound lost in thought.

About halfway to his room, he met a dead man. Nick Fury strode toward him, his long coat streaming behind him, a new eye patch covering his bad eye, and a half smile on his face.

"Fury," Steve said. "How am I supposed to point people to your grave when you're walking around?'

"Can't I just stop by to say hello to an old friend?" Fury extended his hand.

"As long as it is just that." Steve shook Fury's hand. "Hill didn't tell us you were coming."

"Do I have to tell Hill everything?" Fury asked.

"Well, you do tell her everything, but it's good you know, to have at least one person to tell stuff to." Tony interrupted, walking up behind Steve. "I suppose you're here to take her back, and by that I mean like physically 'cause everyone knows she only works for you."

"As I recall, she's done some good work for you as well," said Fury, "And yes, I need her back."

"Shouldn't you be getting ready?" Steve asked Tony, getting annoyed by the conversation.

"I'm always ready, Rogers." Tony looked like he wanted to continue arguing over who Hill worked for.

Steve cut him off.

"You don't look ready, usually you've got more gel in your hair, and you take a long time to put gel in your hair."

"Yes," Tony mused, "That's all I do here, I mean aside from paying for everything, designing everything, and building everything, yeah you're totally right, my only job is to look super good."

But he turned to leave for his room.

"Fashionably late is not a thing," Steve called after him, "Don't be late for the meeting!"

Fury snorted quietly. "If only the world knew their greatest heroes were a bunch of children."

"When do you leave?" Steve asked.

"Wheels up in twenty." Fury said, checking a worn pocket watch.

"And Hill is the only reason you're here?" Steve had learned not to underestimate the amount of large, important secrets Fury usually kept.

"To collect my agent," Fury nodded, "And to tell you not to go digging back into S.H.I.E.L.D. Just take out the Hydra base and leave the rest to me."

"What rest?" Steve was instantly on edge.

"The remaining S.H.I.E.L.D. agents. I set up a safe house in a rather remote secret compound, so don't be alarmed if your radars show movement." Fury said.

"Another S.H.I.E.L.D.? I thought we agreed it was over." Steve could feel the anger rising in his chest. The man just couldn't leave opportunity alone, even when it was unnecessarily dangerous for a large amount of people.

"No," said Fury firmly. "Just a safe house." Steve nodded, but he couldn't shake the feeling there was something he was missing.


	3. Chapter 3

An hour later Natasha sat in the command room, reminiscing the missions she had completed with Clint.

She was wearing her Black Widow suit with new improvements from Stark, her weapons loaded, just waiting for Tony, who was as he called it fashionably late, though what could possibly make him late she didn't know. In the room the rest of the Avengers were scattered across the room, dressed for battle. She missed Clint, the memories of the great but dangerous times they'd had working for S.H.I.E.L.D.

He'd saved her, given her a second chance, something to fight for, and a friend. She shook herself out of her nostalgia, it wasn't like he was dead. He was just retired, with his family, on a farm. Really? A farm? She wondered how he could stand it. After years of action and adrenaline, just one day retiring to a farm. She would always miss him.

She looked up at Steve who was staring intently at the clock. This mission was the hardest on the both of them. Steve had died to destroy Hydra, then they had both risked everything to do good for an organization seeking terror and world domination. The KGB for Hydra, the good of the world was pretty hard to find.

Tony finally entered the room in the Iron Man suit twenty minutes late and took a seat at the table.

"So glad you could join us." Steve said pointedly

"Yes, well I've been very busy, you know, planning your new room design." Tony reclined in his seat, "You gonna start the meeting or what?"

Steve glared but let it go.

The remaining Avengers had taken their seats around the table and looked to their leader. Fury and Hill had already left. Natasha felt uneasy about the whole thing. Why would Fury fly in from Europe to be in the states to pick up Hill and be on the ground for a total of twenty minutes? It was suspicious and Fury operated under a layer of suspicion so it was probably nothing, but she would look into it later.

"The plan is to observe who is occupying the base before attacking." Steve said, "We'll take two small planes. Romanoff you fly one, Sam you got the other. Rhodey and Vision, you'll be in Nat's plane, Stark, Wanda, and I will be with Sam. We'll land three miles away from the base and send a scout team, Stark and Rhodey, to gather intel without being noticed. Right, let's go finish these bastards."

The planes flew high, with retrospection panels keeping them undetectable. Natasha enjoyed flying. She liked the view, the solitude, the control she had over the aircraft, and the power she held over the people inside. Today she was worried about the mission. It could be mindless, but she remembered that day on the highway, when the Winter Soldier had attacked them, how Steve had froze. There was a chance Bucky would be there, a pretty good one, and if that was the case, this mission would be anything but easy. She hoped Steve was prepared.

They landed three miles from the base and the scout teams went out. Stark had added retrospection panels to the Iron Man suits so they were unnoticeable against the clear blue sky.

They came back with nothing really important. The protective barrier that had once surrounded the castle-like structure had not been restored since Tony had disabled it. There were two guards at each door, but there was no way to tell whose side they were on. Steve decided on an infiltration plan to take the castle first and negotiate later.

After a walk through the woods Natasha took her place at the back of the castle. Using a piece of Stark Tech she climbed the fence and sneaked up on the guards. They both had unmatching, worn clothing and one had a smaller gun. They looked tired and unshaven, and terrified when then saw her. One even tried to run away as she expertly swept them off their feet and knocked them out, but even if they came to she doubted that they would be much of a threat.

"Two guards down, entering now." she whispered into her coms.

"Copy." Steve whispered back.

She crept along the halls but found nothing, not a person anywhere.

"Not anyone here." she reported.

The others reported the same thing, Steve called them all to a large room in the center of the building, with Sam, and Rhodey keeping watch outside.

"I got heat signatures, coming from a passageway over yonder." said Tony, pointing to the wall where he had found the secret door the last time he was here.

Steve pushed it open.

"Don't mind if I just stay here to keep watch." said Tony.

Steve rolled his eyes.

Tony's eyes widened innocently and he pointed to Wanda."It is all her fault, for the record."

They continued down the passageway with Tony remaining upstairs. Natasha had both guns raised, Steve held his shield high, Wanda's eyes were glowing red, and Vision looked as calm as ever. When they reached the bottom there was a moment of stunned silence before the shooting began.


	4. Chapter 4

Wanda threw up her hands. Red energy formed a shield, blocking the bullets. Natasha dove behind a corner. Steve crouched, protecting his whole body with his shield, and Vision faded, letting the bullets hit the wall behind him. Wanda could see about fourteen people, mostly men, in dirty clothes and mismatched guns, shooting from behind her shield.

Natasha peeked out from her corner and returned fire with her own guns. Vision drifted forward forward and shot two men with his ray of golden light. Steve crept forward, shielding himself until he reached the closest man. Using his shield he hit the man, flipping him over and using the momentum to propel himself into a flip, landing on the other side of the man as the man fell to the ground unconscious. Steve landed and slammed into the next closest man, Natasha covering him. Wanda dropped her shield and used her red energy to pull the guns out of the enemies' hands and threw them into the wall.

"'Ze Avengers," Wanda heard one of the men whisper in a heavily accented voice. The enemy group raised their hands in surrender.

Defeated by Captain America, Wanda almost smiled. Natasha stepped out from her corner, both guns still pointed at the now unarmed enemies.

The Avengers surveyed their surroundings. The parts of the Chitauri once housed there had been pushed against the wall, as well as any remaining pieces of Ultron. On the table were human sized glass containment boxes filled with an orange liquid. One of the boxes contained what appeared to be a young man with dark hair and blood on his shirt suspended in the orange substance. Steve stiffened.

"Who are you?" He asked in his commanding voice. "Are you Hydra?"

"Hydra?" the accented man asked. "You killed Hydra."

"Who are you?" Steve asked again. A women stepped forward.

"Some of us worked for Hydra," she said in a calm, commanding voice. "Not for their goals, but for the people who believed in us. When Hydra fell we were in disarray, finally forced to see the monsters Hydra really were. We retreated and ended up here. Maybe not the smartest of hideouts, but safe places are on short supply. We came here to regroup and create the life we thought Hydra could provide us with."

Wanda studied the woman. She had short dark brown hair in a low ponytail, dark eyes, a slender build, and dirt streaked across her face. Her story seemed believable enough, except for the box with a body inside.

"Who's in the box?" Natasha stepped forward, her guns still raised.

The women sighed. "The price we had to pay to stay here."

"Did you kill him?" Steve stepped forward.

"No." the woman crossed her arms defensively.

Wanda walked up to the box. The man was about her age. He had a burn on his chin and soot on his face. He looked tired and innocent. She rested her hands on the edge. She could feel emotion trapped within although the man was definitely dead, she could see the bullet wounds, three of them in his chest. There was fear of someone who was chasing him, but also of something else, something inside him, something that felt ancient, something she couldn't describe, in his blood. She glanced back. Steve was watching her.

"Someone was hunting him." she said. Steve looked back at the woman.

"It wasn't us," the women said. "Some rich guy I don't know asked to house him here."

"Why?" Steve pressed.

"I don't really know," the woman said. "He said he was different, the future or something like that, he wanted to make something and needed something in his blood."

"What is the orange stuff?" Wanda asked.

"Gel matrix, it's supposed to preserve his body."

"Why don't we pack this up and take it back to the compound?" Natasha said, coming up beside Steve, guns lowered but still present.

"What if we'd rather stay here?" the woman asked.

"Well," Natasha said, "then we'll persuade you."

The woman nodded. "Good thing you won't have to," she said.

The room became very busy. The woman, Jamie, called the remainder of the people living there to the front room. The guards who had been knocked out were roused, the ones who hadn't made it were loaded into a special compartment in the airplane, along with the gel matrix containers. All nineteen prisoners were cuffed with special Stark bracelets that monitored them closely, ready to tazer them.

Wanda sat in a corner, watching the movement around her. She knew this place well, she had trained here, met the Avengers here, been with her brother here. Every wall, window, and corner brought the memory of him back. The pain felt so fresh as though he had died yesterday. She missed him everyday, but being here reminded her of their plans, reminded her how he always fought for her no matter the odds. They were planning to kill Tony Stark, but ended up on their team, fighting Ultron instead, and in the end she had ended up an Avenger, instead of a sister.

She felt the consuming guilt every day, every smile, every emotion, she didn't deserve to be happy, not anymore. It was why she had stayed, to do something, anything, to add something to her life that was all consuming, to lose herself in it.

She stood up, the team was done packing. She took one last look around and left for the plane.


	5. Chapter 5

Tony sighed, his vacation was officially no longer a vacation. He'd have to plan another one for his return to Stark Tower. Maybe Tahiti, he'd heard it was nice this time of year.

Hydra was annoying him like a bug that had somehow made it into his tower, that was the worst. The whole team was so gushy about the thing, he didn't understand, just get rid of it and you'd never have to talk about it again.

He walked back through the compound on his way to his lab to examine this gel matrix thing that had a dead person in it. He sighed again. It was almost four o'clock, what if he'd had plans? Fury would have ruined them all. He really didn't have plans, but it gave him an excuse to be angry.

He entered his lab, and opened one of the containers. A small amount of yellow smoke smelling of burning plastic rose from the container. He wrinkled his nose, really Hydra?

He pulled on a thin nearly indestructible glove and scooped up a handful of the goop. It oozed through his fingers slowly as he put it under his microscope to let F.R.I.D.A.Y analyze it before he did. He hoped this goop had a purpose, otherwise he was going to be seriously put out. At least it would be something to throw in Rogers' face when he was annoying.

F.R.I.D.A.Y's results were actually quite interesting. The gel had the capability to preserve a living person, keeping them alive but unconscious, it was an ultimate containment.

Wanda walked into the room.

"Come to see the fascinating goop?" Tony asked, pretty sure she still hated him.

"Stark."

Yep, she still hated him. It was a shame too, she was pretty, Tony didn't like it when pretty girls hated him. It hurt his ego.

"You should do a blood test," she said, glaring at him and sweeping out of the room again.

"How about please?" he called after with no response.

Just what he needed to feel more popular. He ran the blood test, then he ran them again, and then he asked F.R.I.D.A.Y to run them again.

"They'll be the same, boss," she informed him.

He knew that, but he wanted it to be different, the scared little boy in him needed it to be different. The DNA was alien, not foreign, but actually alien. Not exactly Chitari, but in the same playing field. Some guy was trying to make something from an alien, that couldn't be good. The guy wasn't completely alien, he was part human too. Urg, life was so complicated. Tony especially didn't like things he couldn't understand, like aliens.

F.R.I.D.A.Y alerted him, "Boss, the results from the tracer you ran before you left are back, you might not be happy about it."

"Well, there's a lot I'm not happy about right now, so you can just add it to the list." Tony reclined in his seat.

"Another S.H.I.E.L.D base is back online," F.R.I.D.A.Y said.

"Know anything about who's inside?"

"No, only that the base has been fully operational since two days after S.H.I.E.L.D fell," she said.

"So," Tony summed hopefully. "Like a safe house?"

"They've been too active to be a safe house. In fact, their activity looks similar to that of a S.H.I.E.L.D headquarters. They've been running missions for a while now. Hydra or S.H.I.E.L.D this base could be a very large threat." Tony leaned forward.

"How come I'm just learning about this now?" he asked.

"Someone's been keeping off our radar, sorry Boss, that's all I know."


	6. Chapter 6

Sam was debating asking for a raise, not that he was paid anyway. He was standing in the room behind the interrogation room, watching through a window that looked like a mirror from inside. This Jamie lady rubbed him the wrong way. Ex-Hydra, leader of some group living in a Hydra base, admitting Hydra was wrong, yet still defending them, this lady was too Hydra for him.

Steve and Natasha were questioning Jamie inside the room. Vision, Wanda, Rhodey, and himself were in the back room looking on. Jamie was playing dumb in what Sam could only describe as a smart way. Playing the victim card had worked for people in the past. Steve and Natasha exited the room to regroup with the rest of the team.

"They all have the same story," said Natasha.

"I don't trust her," said Steve.

"Me neither," Natasha agreed. "I'll check the system to see if any of them were S.H.I.E.L.D. agents."

She left.

Rhodey said he'd check the military files for records and left too.

"Wanda, why don't you go read their thoughts, just to be safe." said Steve.

She nodded and walked into the room with Vision. Steve and Sam stood in the back room, arms crossed.

"What are you thinking, Cap?" Sam asked.

"I don't think she gave us the whole story," he replied.

"You know who else didn't give you the whole story?" Tony came bursting into the room a file in hand. He threw the file on the table in front on them. "Fury."

Steve picked up the file and Sam looked over his shoulder.

"What do you have, Stark?" Steve questioned as he scanned the file.

"That Hydra base we just raided, it wasn't the problem," Tony said, "There's another base that's been active since S.H.I.E.L.D. fell."

"Fury told me about that," said Steve. "He said it was a safe house."

"Maybe that was the idea," Tony said. "But the base is acting like a headquarters, they are in touch with external intelligence services, running missions and covering them up, the whole deal."

"Another S.H.I.E.L.D.?" Steve crossed his arms menacingly.

"Or another Hydra?" Sam crossed his arms too.

"Here's the thing, someone's been keeping it off our radar." Tony finished.

"Someone, like who?" Sam asked.

"Like Fury," Tony answered, his arrogant air coming back as he started to pace around the room.

"Why Fury? Couldn't it have been anyone?" Steve asked.

"Well, whoever it is doesn't want to take us out, well, presently, that might change, but they're not shooting at us right now. So that means they don't see us as a threat, we have the same goals."

Tony waved his arms around. "I'm sorry is no one understanding me, I'm pretty sure I'm speaking English unless I switched over to my usual, super smart language none of you understand, that could happen, but plain and simple here it is. Fury started a new S.H.I.E.L.D.. He probably won't call it that to avoid the wrath of mighty Captain America, but it exists and he's been hiding it, and right now I feel like he's going to get the full wrath of Iron Man, who happens to be the strongest Avenger, internet poll Rogers."

Tony let out his breath. "Man I miss Banner, it was good you know, to have a therapist in the building, maybe then you wouldn't have to hear all the hardships of being me."

"Is that what we just heard?" Sam asked incredulously.

"You know, I'm not sure." Steve answered him, then almost instantly turned serious. "A new S.H.I.E.L.D., are you sure, and you're confident about Fury?"

"100 percent," Tony nodded. "Well, 99 percent cause the wifi sucks, actually 98 percent, but it just sounds like Fury, so a firm 99 percent."

"Uhuh," Sam nodded. "So what's the plan Cap?''

"Oh, also, forgot to mention, that dead kid in the orange goop, he's part alien." Tony added absentmindedly.

The door opened and Wanda and Vision stepped back into the back room.

"What'd you get?" Steve asked eagerly.

"She knows more than she told you," Wanda said, twisting her hands.

Steve nodded her on.

"A new kind of superhero, they call them Inhumans. They are part alien, specifically Kree. They have powers, and the man in charge has a plan for them. He thinks the world needs to change." Wanda said.

"Change how?" Steve asked.

"Change so the Avengers are not a part of it." Wanda looked at her feet. "He's going to use the Inhumans, he called them weapons even the Kree didn't use to their full potential."


	7. Chapter 7

Rhodey had to admit that the world was a whole lot simpler before aliens. Maybe it was more exciting, it was definitely fun to watch Tony struggle with the whole aliens cannot be explained thing.

Natasha had found that nine out of the nineteen prisoners had been low-level S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, seven had been military, and two had been both. Jamie was one of the ones who had been both. Lieutenant in the army, then low ranking S.H.I.E.L.D agent. Rhodey had definitely seen a more impressive resume on that list, his own. Then again he could usually impress anyone by telling them he was an Avenger.

All the prisoners had had their blood tested and all the tests had come back normal, whatever Inhumans were they weren't here. That gave Rhodey some peace of mind, though that could easily change.

All the news the team had received today was not exactly what they wanted to hear. Steve had them all busy. Tony was working on a way to identify Inhumans and the rest of them were trying to find out more about them via the internet. What they found was rather alarming. Buried under the normal news was a few stories about freak accidents that couldn't be explained, metal melting, random fire, and quite a few unpredicted earthquakes.

Rhodey felt that the earthquakes were just freak weather, but Natasha seemed sold. They went on typing away, muttering when they found something, until Natasha said, "Got it," and turned her computer around. She had hacked something and found an archive of news that had been held back from the public.

"What's the ATCU?' Sam asked.

"The Advanced Threat Containment Unit, they're in on this." Natasha answered.

"They're a government agency," Rhodey said, wondering why all the government agencies seemed to be falling apart. S.H.I.E.L.D., the ATCU, they were supposed to be there to protect people.

"They've got a list of names," said Natasha. "Inhumans that they are keeping an eye on. I say we track one down and ask a few questions."

"More than a few," Sam agreed.

"Anyone we should know about on the list?" Steve asked.

"No government officials, but there is one person who used to be S.H.I.E.L.D., and she's high on the list." Natasha clicked on a name, and a picture of a pretty young girl with short dark hair and dark eyes appeared on the screen, "Her name is Daisy Johnson."

"What's her thing?" Sam asked.

"They don't have it listed," Natasha said, leaning away from the computer.

Wanda typed on her computer and frowned. She handed her computer to Natasha who typed away until she smiled her success. The phone recording played loud in the room, a man sounding panicked, calling the police for one person, Daisy Johnson with the ATCU.

The Avengers glanced around at each other. Tony walked in. He showed off a item that looked like something a police officer would have used to see how fast a person was driving and took a bow.

"Your genius has come through again," he said, then took a look around the room. "Of course, you're going to tell me I missed all the hard work." He sighed. "What'd we find?"

"Do you know a Daisy Johnson?" Natasha asked.

"Possibly," Tony frowned. "I mean I don't remember every girl I meet so I don't know. Why? I mean, if she's that important I can think harder."

"Don't pull a brain muscle." Rhodey stood up "She's just our only lead."

"I'll get into it." Tony left.

An hour later Rhodey had come to hate Daisy. There was nothing about her, anywhere. Natasha found a file that she had been in an orphanage and multiple foster homes. Wanda had found a memory of the girl in Jamie's head but it was nothing new. Steve had called a few old S.H.I.E.L.D. friends and someone named Sharon Carter that made Sam grin, to try and confirm her status as an agent.

Sharon found someone with the same picture named Skye who had been an agent for a total of forty-two hours before it fell. The breakthrough happened when Natasha was able to hack an old S.H.I.E.L.D. file to find that previous to being an agent she had been under the supervision of her S.O. Grant Ward. They were able to find that Grant Ward had passed the S.H.I.E.L.D. testing with flying colors. His S.O. was John Garrett, who upon further investigation had been Hydra, more specifically something called the Clairvoyant. The problem was they couldn't find where Ward had been assigned to, there was a fire wall protecting any additional information. No one on the team could break it. It made them all edgy, and worried about why.

"Based on the information we were able to discover, she's probably Hydra," Natasha said finally. "I don't think we're going to get anything else, the person who developed this fire wall is slightly smarter than me," she glared at Sam. "Slightly."

"What's the plan, Cap?" Sam asked.

They all looked up at him.

"Let's go take a visit to that S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, see if they can give us anything."


	8. Chapter 8

Agent Coulson was having a good day. The world wasn't on fire and he'd finally been able to replace his vintage Captain America trading cards via an auction on Ebay. His old ones had been ruined when Fury smeared blood all over them. Such a waste. Coulson figured he'd get Fury to have Captain America sign his new ones, it was only fair.

He walked through the halls of his secret base. He was starting to feel as secret base savvy as Fury himself. Maybe it was a Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. thing, he'd have to warn his successor.

Things had settled down since Simmons had returned from the monolith six months ago. With his connections Coulson had caught whiff of another monolith and soon had it safely stored in the base where no one could reach it. As a secret project Coulson had had Fitz send a safe house with provisions through the portal, track the openings, and send the equipment back to Earth just in case they needed a quick escape. All in all Coulson felt good about the direction S.H.I.E.L.D. was heading in. He did not feel good, however, that Ward was still a free man walking around. Of course, if he wasn't so damn hard to find Ward would be behind as many walls as Coulson could provide.

The team would never be the same again. He knew the pain, he felt it too. The loss of a friend and the guilt for not seeing it earlier. Coulson cursed himself, how could he have not known that Ward was Hydra?

He shook himself back to the present. As he walked by Fitz and Simmons were deep in conversation in the lab and Mack and Hunter were playing video games animatedly in the lounge room. He continued on, passing the gym where Daisy and May were sparing, Bobbi sweaty from her rehab workout cheering them on. He walked into his office, reflecting on how much he loved his team.

Two hours later they assembled, the new S.H.I.E.L.D. with the same values. He looked out at the faces. His team was dressed in casual clothes, their trusting eyes stared up at him. He began recapping the day and laying out the next couple of days when the rumbling began. It started slow and barely noticeable, then began to intensify, until every head turned to look at Daisy.

"What did we do to offend you?" Hunter asked.

"This isn't me," Daisy said, looking questioningly at Coulson,

Hunter looked too. "Don't suppose this is the time of the meeting when you were going to inform us you found another Daisy," he said.

"I don't know what this is," Coulson said. "Get armed, Daisy. May, come with me."

He turned and started walking toward the entrance of the base. Daisy and May followed him, pulling weapons just to be safe. When they reached the entrance hall they found it full of people clad like black ninjas, maybe 30 of them all with weapons raised. Their whole heads were covered except for slits for their eyes.

"Hello," Coulson started, before a weapon fired and he looked down to see a needle sticking out of his right arm. He glanced back to see Daisy and May both had needles too. The room began to swim.

A ninja stepped forward.

"Agent Coulson," he said, his voice like sandpaper. "Thank you for your cooperation, I understand you have a very important story to tell."

The world went black. Coulson fell to the floor unconscious. May and Daisy fell behind him, also knocked out.

The man with the gruff voice looked back at his men. "Take the base."


	9. Chapter 9

Humans intrigued Vision. The way they functioned, what caused them to feel emotion, how they reacted to emotion, it was fascinating to watch. Vision had enough people skills to feel the anxiety level on the plane.

The Avengers had suited up and were now flying to the other online base. Steve had decided to answer the questions about the base before continuing to investigate the Inhumans. In truth everyone was hoping the base would hold the answers, or at least a lead, as the Inhuman search had gone cold.

They were unsure of what to expect, and how the trip would affect who they trusted. They landed in a field, uneasy because the base had not responded to their signal, and walked to the diner which housed the entrance to the base. The door to the diner had been blown off. The place appeared to have housed a grenade that exploded and the walls were blackened. The booth that hid the door had been thrown outside and the door was left exposed.

"F.R.I.D.A.Y., what are we looking at?" Tony asked his A.I.

"Handheld explosives used about an hour and a half ago," she replied.

They stepped inside, weapons raised as they walked down the steps. The base was empty, parts of the walls scorched by explosives, bullet impressions on walls, their casings on the floor. The glass in the meeting rooms had been shattered and the lab raided.

"What happened?" Wanda asked.

"Someone attacked," said Natasha. She looked at Steve. "You think it was Fury?"

"He said he'd take care of it," Steve said doubtfully. "I don't know, Nat. Let's go through the personal rooms see if we can find anything. Stark, salvage anything you can from the lab. Sam, Rhodey go through the kitchen, lounge, and gym. Vision, keep watch, and Nat and Wanda come with me to go through the bedrooms. Keep your guard up, someone could still be here."

"Whatever you say old man," Tony said, leaving for the lab.

The others left too.

The personal rooms held mostly clothes, with few personal possessions or interesting leads. What they did find was a picture, they assumed of the team who occupied the base. Daisy was in the picture and so was Phil Coulson.

"The picture's probably old," Natasha said she pointed. "That there is Melinda May, at S.H.I.E.L.D. we called her the Cavelry. She hasn't been in the field in years after an incident in Bahrain. Whoever lived here probably knew Coulson before he died."

"Maybe Daisy is some sort of family member," Wanda suggested. Steve picked up a phone laying under rubble on the floor.

As he opened it a Scottish accent rang out. "Happy Birthday Jemma, say hello to your parents for me, we'll see you when you when you get back."

The audio shuffled as the phone changed hands on the recording.

"Simmons," said a girls voice with an American accent. "We'll try to save you some cake, but Mack might eat it all."

She laughed.

Someone else joined the conversation. "Come on Tremors," said a man's voice, "Everyone knows you'd be the one to eat it."

"I believe what everyone is trying to say," it was Coulson's voice, "Is that we miss you Jemma, and we'll be waiting for you to come home."

The phone went dead. The room was silent.

"This person must really have known Coulson to keep that recording for so long," Natasha said.

"Yeah," said Steve. "It's probably old, but let's look into the names anyway."

"Jemma Simmons, I believe, was a scientist at S.H.I.E.L.D.. Top of her class, her teachers were very proud, I heard all about her many PHD's. Mack, I don't know, I might need a last name, and the girl, I thought she might be Daisy, but Tremors, that's an unusual name," Natasha said.

"Maybe it's a nickname," Wanda suggested.

"Its old, so it might not be relevant to the situation," Steve said. "Okay let's regroup, see if anyone found anything interesting."

They regrouped in the lab where Tony was absorbed in his work. Vision reported that it was a ghost town outside. The other group hadn't found anything except some soda in the fridge which they were now enjoying.

"What now?" Sam asked. "We gonna look for aliens, or find out why these people left in such a hurry?"

"Stark, what'd you find?" Steve asked.

"Well, I found a couple things actually," Tony said, not turning around.

"Care to elaborate?" Natasha asked.

"There is the same firewall on the computers so I can't get anything from there, but there is a lot of paperwork about a big rock thing called a "Monolith, that unless my eyes deceive me is a portal?" Tony said the last part like a question, "Also a lot about Inhumans, some stuff on orange goop, and they made some kind of containment unit, we probably should steal that."

"Inhumans?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, they've got records about some guy who can become metal, one who conducts electricity, and our dear friend Daisy," Tony replied.

"What's her power?" Natasha asked.

Tony looked up. "Vibrations, she makes earthquakes."


	10. Chapter 10

Melinda May reflected that Coulson was a lot nicer than she was. Perhaps she could learn a few things from him. Of course, maybe if Coulson was a little more like her they wouldn't be where they were now.

The team was sitting single file along a stone wall in a stone room with their hands chained above them. There was no visible door and no windows, just rusty light bulbs on the high ceiling. May looked at Coulson, who was seated to her right in the center of the line.

"Maybe you should've gone for something a little more intimidating than hello," she said.

"Often times brilliant lines hit me after the fact," Coulson said, a little wistfully. "I've been trying to work on it since Fury made me director, but I'm nowhere near Captain Rogers' speech making skills."

He looked over at her. "I would have let you do the talking, but I was afraid then there would be no talking."

She nodded, keeping the smile off her face. "Maybe we needed less talking, maybe then we could have kicked some more butt," she said.

"Okay," Coulson said. "You get to be the director next time."

The team fell silent.

"So," said Hunter. "Did anyone make a rich evil man very angry and forget to tell us?"

"Who would use darts?" Daisy asked, nursing her resulting headache.

"Someone old," Hunter suggested.

"Someone with an appreciation for historical elements that are still functional," Coulson added.

"Like I said," Hunter leaned back. "Someone old."

"How did they find our base?" Bobbi asked.

"Our systems were completely operational," Daisy said.

"Someone could have tipped them off," May offered.

"Ugh, I don't think I can handle another Ward." Jemma sighed. "Besides, no one even knows where our base is."

"The ATCU might have found out," Daisy said, leaning her head back against the wall.

"You didn't tell Lincoln did you?" Fitz asked.

"No," Daisy said indignantly. "Of course I didn't!"

"So why are we here then?" Hunter asked.

"I think the answer is," Coulson sighed. "We don't know."

"Kidnapped, by ninjas," Hunter said. "Man, we could have a really great story book, you know."

The walls slid apart at the center and a man flanked by four guards on each side walked in. The man was older, his hair half gray, half dark brown. He wore a black suit with long coat tails to about his knees in an old fashioned style. He had piercing gray eyes and a shotgun in his belt. He had small lips that smiled in a cold way and high cheekbones. He stepped into the room.

"Hello," he said. He looked around at them and nodded. "Excellent then." His voice was silky.

He turned to his guards. "Put them in individual cells, as we discussed." Then he turned and left.

"I'm sorry," said Hunter. "Was that an introduction? Cause the only thing I gathered is that you look like every story book villain ever. I thought villains were done wearing evil on the outside."

"Oh, Mr. Lance Hunter," the man said not turning around. "What fun we are going to have together." Then he was gone.

They were moved to separate cells. Hands chained, but no longer stuck to the wall, they were free to move around their small cells. The walls to the sides were bars so they could still see each other, but the front was a barred door. The cells were set in a half circle, and the center of the room was empty. A few chairs were scattered oddly here and there. A large old fashioned door stood on the left wall, but other than that there was nothing.

The ninja guards took May first. She was brought to a small room. She sat across from the old fashioned dressed man. The table was small and her handcuffs were attached to it. She studied the man across from her, using her training to keep her face emotionless and her body pasture unreadable. He looked back, just as unreadable.

"Hello," he said.

"You said that already," May told him.

"Ah, yes, I suppose I did, didn't I? Well, yes, how are you Melinda?"

May blinked. Only Andrew ever called her Melinda.

"You kidnapped me and I'm your prisoner, so if you're going for nice you could at least tell me who you are and what you want."

"Oh, no no no no," he said sounding actually distressed. "I want us to be friends."

"Friends?" May cocked her head, "You lost the possibility of friends when you broke into my base."

"Well, technically I didn't break into your base, I was on the plane."

"But you ordered it?'

"Yes, but someone has to make the hard decisions, I'm sure out of anyone you'd understand."

May raised an eyebrow.

"Bahrian. Tell me what happened."

"S.H.I.E.L.D. did its job," May said. "The threat was neutralized, no agents lost their lives."

"You left the field, after that, didn't you?"

"I decided to leave on a high note."

"Yes, the Calvary. I'm sure that wouldn't be your nickname if S.H.I.E.L.D. knew what really happened. It's easier, probably, for you to think of the mission as a success."

"If you think you know what happened, why are you asking me?" May was getting frustrated with the conversation.

"Because I want to hear you say it, and I'm sure the world would like to hear you say it to."

"Say what?"

"That S.H.I.E.L.D. made you shoot a little girl."

May leaned back in her chair and observed him. He looked excited, like a little kid, but she wasn't sure what he was getting at.

"Melinda," he started.

"Its Agent," she interrupted.

"Agent," he mused, "Are you still proud?"

She glared.

"Have you looked around, Agent?" he asked. "We pride ourselves in being independent, in doing the impossible, solving the unsolvable, deciding things for ourselves, and yet we allow heroes. With powers we can't explain, taking care of us like we're helpless, deciding who deserves to live and who they'll kill by themselves." He took a breath. "Its un-American, and I am going to show the world their heroes the way I see them. Human, emotional, reactionary, flawed, dangerous, not qualified for the powers they have."

"How are you going to do that?" May asked.

"Oh, I'm not going to, they are going to do it themselves. Starting with that girl in my basement, umm Daisy, yes Daisy."

"Why are you telling me this?"

"You're going to help me," he said.

May snorted.

"All you're going to do is tell the world how S.H.I.E.L.D. forced you to kill a innocent little girl supposedly for the greater good, but really for the safety of the agents they unnecessarily sent in to cover themselves. Tell them Agent, tell them the truth, if you're so proud."


	11. Chapter 11

The team had returned to the compound. The exploration of the base had ultimately led to more questions than it had led to answers. The team was feeling frustrated by the lack of progress, and ancy about the threat seeming to grow larger every second. They had gathered in the command room to compile the information they had been able to gather in order to decide what their next move should be.

"So, Hydra base back on line," Rhodey started the list. "We took prisoners who haven't been able to give us anything interesting yet."

"Dead guy in orange goop," Sam added. "Who is part alien."

"Another base on line, but we think that one is S.H.I.E.L.D." Rhodey said.

"We found enough evidence that it is, or was before it was attacked," Natasha added.

"So to sum up," Sam said. "We got a new bad guy messing with alien DNA and S.H.I.E.L.D. and Hydra are most likely involved."

"We don't know Hydra for sure," Rhodey said.

"But we can't rule it out." Natasha said.

"So, what's the plan Cap?" Sam asked.

"Let's ask Jamie about her knowledge of the S.H.I.E.L.D. base. Stark, analyze everything you got from the lab and see if you can repair the phone. Rhodey, get in contact with intelligence agencies, see what they know about the base. Natasha, reach out to some ex-S.H.I.E.L.D. agents to see what they can give you. Everyone else, pick a prisoner to question I'll take Jamie."

They dispersed.

Natasha stayed in the command room. She ran through the list of ex-S.H.I.E.L.D she trusted. The list was always short, but it was shorter these days. She called Fury first, but he didn't pick up, so she called Maria. It rang many times before she answered.

"Hello?" Maria said.

"Hi," Natasha replied.

"Miss me much?" Maria said. she sounded distracted.

"We raided the Strucker base, took 19 prisoners, intent undetermined. We also visited another base, Stark said it was online again." She paused.

"Which base?" Maria asked. Maria was a good agent trained for situations like this, but so was Natasha, and she could hear the urgency and panic that her friend was hiding.

"Does it matter?" Natasha asked.

"No, we just want to be prepared in case something goes wrong. A little late but Fury set up a safe house, maybe that's what you're seeing." Maria said.

"That's what Steve said." Natasha paused again.

"What did you find?" Maria asked.

"Nothing, the place was raided."

"What?" Maria suddenly sounded more interested. "What happened?"

"We were hoping you would know."

Natasha waited for her to confess whatever she was hiding.

"Send me whatever you found, I'll see if Fury has time to talk. We'll set up a video conference, work out this mess," Maria said.

"Fury didn't answer his phone."

"We're in the middle-" The line went dead.

"Hello?" Natasha looked at the phone and frowned, it was black, totally dead. She started toward the lab to talk to Tony about it when the lights went out.

Natasha stumbled by the sudden blindness, reaching out and steading herself on the wall. She pulled a gun from the back of her pants and held it ready in front of her. Feeling her way she made it down to lab.

"Stark, what the hell is this?" she asked, hoping he was still there.

"Nat," he replied. "Iron Man isn't working."

"What?" she said.

"Someone drained the power."

"Who could do that?"

"I don't know."

"You'd better figure it out fast. Did you see anything on the monster?" Natasha asked.

"No-"

Wanda burst in, her hands aglow. Behind her Sam and Rhodey held guns and Steve his shield.

"Stark?" Steve asked.

"Wanda, give me some light," Tony said, leaning over his computer. Wanda obliged.

"Why aren't the generators working?" Natasha asked as the remaining heroes formed a circle around Tony and Wanda, guns raised.

"Did you find anything, Nat?" Steve asked.

"I talked to Hill. She didn't give me anything but she was definitely hiding something. The call was cut a few minutes before the power went out."

The power switched back on.

"Huh," Tony leaned back. "I don't think that was me."

The power went out again. The room became more uneasy.

The lights began flashing on and off rapidly.

"It's not morse code," Natasha said.

"Maybe we should get out of here," Sam adjusted his hands on his gun.

"Let's split up," Steve said, pulling flashlights from a drawer. "Sam, you stay with Tony and Wanda."

"Where's Vision?" Sam interrupted. The team looked around, none of them had seen him.

"Natasha you find Vision, then bring him here. Rhodey, you take the back entrance, I'll take the front, Tony, put on your suit." Steve gave his orders. The team clicked on flashlights and moved to obey.

"My suit isn't working," Tony said.

"Neither is mine," said Rhodey.

Steve looked at Tony.

"Both suits were charging, when the power went out they were both out of power."

"We got hacked," Natasha said.

The lights were still flashing, but other electronic devices were still dark.

"Fine, no suits," Steve said. "let's move."

The power suddenly returned stronger than before, blinding them. They looked around. Tony immediately started working on his computer. The vents opened and needles shot out. The team fired their guns but the needles were coming from all sides, and one by one they slumped to the ground."

"Well," said a silky voice. "That was easy."


	12. Chapter 12

Asher Chase strolled through the hallway to the lab. Oliver had finished the serum. Perfect timing. Asher enjoyed perfection. Peace, order, it created a simple life, perfect to be content with. He could handle a little imperfection and disorder, roll up his sleeves, and become something more than simple to fix it.

He was capable, very capable. He could have been anything, but he had settled for a comfortable life, one that was simple, that fit into the bigger picture. He had given it up for his place, hadn't forced it, just been happy.

He couldn't understand why these people couldn't do the same. Just give it up, and fit into their place, but they couldn't, so he couldn't until they did. He couldn't destroy them, not their wills, and possibly not their bodies. But he could destroy their image. If the world decided that heroes were dangerous and evil and that they didn't need them, then Asher had done his job.

Of course Sokovia had helped.

He arrived at the lab. Gel matrix containers piled up in the corners, microscopes and petri dishes were scattered on the steel tables. Hidden behind a dark curtain in a secure containment was Asher's pride and joy. He had managed to track down the last monolith for when the world agreed with him. Captain America would not stay put in a city prison.

Oliver rushed up.

"Mr. Chase, Sir, the formula you requested is complete. The Inhuman blood worked like a dream, here you go." He handed Asher a syringe with a violet substance inside. "We are working on more."

Oliver bobbed his head of wild brown hair and rushed off again.

Asher held up the syringe to the light and smiled. His plan would have been better with the Hulk of course, but it would still work wonderfully with the heroes he had assembled.

He left for the prisoners. He had had the earthquake girl moved to a separate holding container in a secure location, he had heard her powers could get messy.

Daisy looked up when he entered. The man with the long coattails and thin mouth.

"Hello," he said. "Miss Johnson, welcome."

Daisy was handcuffed but able to move around her cell. She stood and watched him carefully.

"You don't trust me," he said. "That's alright, you don't have to. They just have to trust you. So tell me, your transition from human to Inhuman, it was quite difficult wasn't it."

Daisy was silent.

"I know you think you can say nothing at all, but that is never that case. Your silence speaks volumes. I will have what I want one way or another."

He stepped closer and grabbed her arm. Before she could react he plunged the syringe in her arm and out again, leaving the violet liquid in her arm. She stumbled backward.

"Don't worry," he said. "It's just you, the way you were meant to be seen."

Then he left.

Daisy took a breath. He gave her the creeps. She looked down at her arm. Everything seemed normal. The next few minutes passed slowly, as it did her awareness did too. She was too aware. Everything was so overwhelming, too much input to her brain. Her fingers tingled and power surged through her veins. The room began to shake. She began to panic, she couldn't control it, it was too much. But Coulson, her team was here, she couldn't let herself lose control. She slowed her breathing down and sank against the wall. She could control it, keep it at bay, but not for long.


	13. Chapter 13

Steve woke up in a cold cell, his hands in a kind of handcuff that glowed a light yellow orange color. There was a band of the same material on each ankle. He felt drained and had a bad headache, probably from the sleeping drug in the needles. He strained against the bands, but found them strong.

"Yes," said a sandpapery voice. "Because when detaining Captain America we never thought what would happen if he tried to escape."

Steve looked up. Twelve guards clad in black surrounded his cell.

Steve stood up.

"Where am I?" he asked.

"In a cell," the man replied sardonically.

"Are you Hydra?"

"You think everyone is Hydra."

"Do you have a name? "

"Yes." The conversation ended there as a man entered the room. He had a snake-like face and long coattails.

"Captain, I am Asher Chase," he said in his silky voice. "How are you today?"

Steve cocked his head.

"I was outside this morning, and I do have to say, it is a great day to die."

"Are you planning on dying?" Steve asked.

"I don't think anyone plans on dying, but I am planning on you dying," he said.

"What do you want?" Steve asked.

"For the world to see heroes as I do. Children, irresponsible, messy, using their world as a playground. I want to ruin the idea of a superhero, the image, the reputation. And I will. The thing is I can't destroy yours. You are Captain America, you tend to inspire a certain amount of loyalty. I can't destroy the godlike image people have of you. So you have become just another piece of the puzzle, just like them. This is my playground, you're going to see how it feels to be stepped on."

"You're going to kill me?" Steve asked.

"No, that would ruin me. Someone very special is going to kill you. Come, I'll introduce you."

The door opened and the guards seized him. They pulled a bag over his head and dragged him for a while. For a time they were outside, then a car, outside, then inside again. The bag finally came off and Steve looked around wildly.

It was a small warehouse. Two cells stood against one wall. The rest of the room was empty. The guards threw him into the empty cell, the other one held a girl. It was the girl from the picture, Steve realized.

She sat against the wall of her cell, curled in a small ball, her head dropped forward and her skin shiny with sweat. Her eyes were closed and she hadn't reacted when they had walked in.

The guards left. Asher smiled,

"I'm sure you two will get along quite well."

Then he left.

Steve could see the camera in the corner of the room. He turned his attention to Daisy prepared for a fight, but she didn't acknowledge he was there.

He considered, maybe she was sleeping, but her body was too tense. She looked like she was struggling, not like she wanted a fight.

"Hello?" Steve asked cautiously.

She winced slightly at the sound of his voice. Her eyes opened and she looked at him.

"Are you okay?" he tried again.

"Fine," she said, settling her head on her knees again.

"You are Daisy, right?" He asked.

She looked at him sharply. "How did you know?" She studied him closer. "Captain America, huh. Why are you here?" Then she jumped slightly. "You shouldn't be here."

"What?" he said. "In jail?"

"I just. Did you see anyone on your way here?" she asked.

"No, are there other people?"

"Some former S.H.I.E.L.D. agents."

"Any reason I shouldn't see them?"

"No, why are you in jail, anyway?"

"They hacked our facility and shot us with needles. Where were you when you were taken?"

"Old base we were using as a safe house, the story is basically the same."

"Your S.O., he was Hydra?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Daisy said glumly. "Don't worry, I hate him as much as you do."

They sat in silence for a while.

"Captain America." Daisy glanced over at him. "Can't lie, I'm silently fangirling."

"Oh?" he said.

"Would've been worse if you met one of my friends." Daisy winced as a bug flew across her face.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, Mr. Creepy Coat injected me with something and now my senses are way too strong," she said.

"You have powers, right?" he asked.

"How did you know about that?" she asked.

"We've been looking for you," Steve admitted. "Looking for Inhumans."

"Did you find any?" she asked.

"Not besides you. You make earthquakes, right?"

"Yeah, I can manipulate vibrations. I've got a handle on, usually, but right now it feels like I could lose control at any minute." Daisy said.

Steve looked at her, concerned.

"If you lost control, what would happen? Could you bring down the building?"

"I don't really know," Daisy admitted. "I've brought down buildings before. We're not really sure the full potential of what I can do, but people have speculated that I could tear continents apart."


	14. Chapter 14

Natasha was marched through the cold hallways, the rest of the team behind her. Vision was contained in a gel matrix container. Wanda had a metal necklace that monitored her every move, eliminating her powers. Rhodey, Tony, and Sam where chained like her. They marched in a straight line, the black ninja dressed guards surrounded them armed with guns. There was no good way out, so Natasha decided they should wait for a better moment.

Sam and Rhodey were thrown into a cell together. The rest of the team marched on passed other cells, some containing people. A blonde woman and a scruffy man in one, Jemma Simmons in another. Wanda and Vision were separated from the group down a different hallway. Natasha and Tony were roughly pushed into a cell.

The guards left. A man stepped out of the shadows as they turned around to survey their surroundings.

"I'm sorry, what?" Tony asked.

"Hi," Coulson gave a small wave. "Yeah, kind of not dead, yay me."

"You are dead." Natasha said. "I read the official report, hell, I was on the helicarrier. We saw your blood on the cards."

"Well, technically I was dead, a couple days actually. Fury brought me back with project T.A.H.I.T.I. Wasn't all that fun. Don't worry I've had words with Fury already," Coulson said guiltily.

"I think I would like to have some words with Fury right now," Tony said. "Many words, in a loud voice."

Natasha walked up to Coulson and punched him in the face, hard enough to cause him to double over.

"Are you real?" she asked. "You're not like a robot are you? What did Fury give you to bring you back to life?"

"Alien DNA," Coulson said.

"So you're Inhuman?"

"No, I'm the same, mostly."

"And you didn't tell us?" Natasha asked, her voice rising. "We went to war over you."

"Technically, at that point I was dead. You needed something to bring you together," Coulson answered.

"But what about us?" Tony asked,."All this time, and you didn't tell us? You were a friend, a missed agent, a casualty we let happen, how could you not tell us you were alive?"

"Fury swore me to secrecy," Coulson said.

"You of all people should know that Fury's secrecy only makes more problems," Natasha said coolly.

"And we are kind of good at keeping secrets, I mean we're the Avengersand you didn't trust us?" Tony sounded hurt.

"What were you doing at the base?" Natasha crossed her arms.

"It was a project, classified content," Coulson said.

"No, I want to know what you were doing at the base. Don't give me the protocol crap, Phil." Natasha had become business like.

"It was S.H.I.E.L.D.," Coulson said. "Fury set up a new S.H.I.E.L.D, around my team, with me as director."

"I can't believe you," Natasha turned away.

"I'm sorry," Coulson hung his head.

"At this point I think we are way passed sorry," Tony said.

"Who was a part of your team?" Natasha asked. "When was it established? Who knows about this?"

"My team started after New York. It was Melinda May, Grant Ward, Leo Fitz, Jemma Simmons, and Daisy Johnson. Not a lot of people know about me, Fury and Hill most importantly," Coulson said.

"And what?" Natasha asked. "You just weren't going to tell us? Most of us were a part of S.H.I.E.L.D. too, Phil."

"I couldn't tell you," Coulson said.

"Yes, you could have and should have, 'cause this is like the worst reunion ever," Tony said. "It'll get better when you see Cap, he's the sentimental one."

"Do you know why we're here?" Natasha asked.

"My base was attacked, my agents are prisoners, no one knows why. I think now would be a good time to end the friend conversation for now, and just be allies," said Coulson.


	15. Chapter 15

Steve blinked. He had dozed a little. The conversation with Daisy had fallen silent, and though he still had plenty of questions he had let it be to allow her to concentrate on not causing a major earthquake. Occasionally the room would shake but it would subside quickly.

Steve stood up and walked to the bars of his cell, loosening his stiff muscles. Nothing had changed. He tried to bend the bars again, but couldn't.

The room began to shake, slowly at first, and he waited for it to stop but instead of stopping it increased. Behind him Steve could hear Daisy's breathing become shallower and quicker. He turned around and walked toward her. She was rocking back and forth methodically, still tight in a ball. Sweat covered her pale skin and her hands were on her head. He crouched next to her. The shaking increased and Daisy fell to a full panic attack.

"I can't make it stop," she said, her breath in short gasps and the shaking increased. "Everyone is at risk, you have to get out of here."

"Hey, hey," Steve reached out through the bars and put his hand on her arm. "Take it easy, you're okay."

She shook her head. "No, no, no," Daisy stood up, her hands over her ears. She crouched again, then stood up, her hands falling to her sides. The thick bullet proof windows shattered as the shaking continued.

"Daisy!" Steve said. "Look at me."

Daisy obliged, tears in her eyes, her face panic stricken.

"Just take a breath, calm down, you can fix this."

She blinked, then raised her hands and pushed the air towards the bars. The entire wall of bars and doors flew off and into the far wall, blowing that out too. Beyond the blown out wall a path had been cleared for as far as they could see. Daisy staggered, looking down at her arms, which had begun to bruise again from the intense force that had gone through her.

Steve grabbed her upper arm, steadying her. "What happened?" he asked, confused by her sudden condition. She collapsed into his arms, shivering. He lowered her to the floor to find her unconcious.

He picked her up and left the building. He didn't really know Daisy, but he couldn't leave her there. He found outside to be deserted, the building actually in the middle of a corn field. He put Daisy down and searched the building and found a first aid kit. Her arms were badly bruised and he speculated broken so he taped them up as best he could. The rest of the kit he stuffed in his pockets.

More searching found a gun behind a panel in a wall. Another loose panel found a safe that Steve broke to find two syringes, one lavender, one pale yellow. The lavender one was labeled Invoke and the yellow was Cease. He pocketed them as well, and returned to Daisy. The parking lot was mud and as a result he could see tire tracks leading to the right so he followed them. He wasn't sure where he was going, or who he might find, but they couldn't stay there.

About an hour and three miles later Daisy stirred. She moaned softly and lifted her head a little. Steve set her down on the side of the road to check on her. She winced as he did so.

"Hey," he said, "how are you?"

"Okay," she said. "What happened?"

"You blew out the bars, the wall, and some trees, then you passed out," Steve told her.

"When I use my powers they go through me," Daisy explained, "So if I used them too often, or with too much power, they hurt me. I have gauntlets I'm supposed to wear, but it's kinda hard to remember to bring them everywhere."

Steve sat back on his heels and looked around. "Got any brilliant ideas?"

Daisy pushed herself up to a sitting position. "Isn't that what you're known for, being the leader and everything?"

Steve looked at her. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah."

He helped her to her feet and they started to walk again.

"So this direction," Daisy said. "Did you do ennie menni minny moe?"

"Something like that," Steve replied. "Followed tire tracks."

"So what's our play, when we get wherever it is we're going?"

Steve looked at her. "Weren't you only an agent for a day?"

"Officially, I had my badge for a day, but I worked with a S.H.I.E.L.D. team for a couple months before that."

"With your S.O., who is Hydra?"

"Yeah, I shot him for it."

"Is he dead?"

"Unfortunately, no. I should've aimed for the face."

"What did you do for S.H.I.E.L.D?" Steve asked.

"I was a hacker, I was working for The Rising Tide when I got recruited."

"Was a hacker?"

"I trained with Melinda May and became a field agent. But enough about me, I'm sure you've got some pretty awesome stories to tell." Daisy grinned.

"I'm sure you already know everything about me."

"Not going to lie, I have googled you. I learned about Captain America, but there's not much about Steve Rogers."

Steve gave a small smile, he appreciated Daisy knowing the difference between superhero and human.

A truck drove down the road, Steve held out his hand, thumb up to hitch hike. The truck pulled over. It was old in need of a paint job with a bed full of apples. The man inside had a beard and dirty jeans.

"Ck'I help ya?" He asked in a southern accent.

"Do you know what's around here?" Steve asked.

"Not much really, farms, an old security building, and a church." the man replied. "Would it be alright if we could crash at your house for a few hours?" Steve asked.

"Who's asking?" the man said.

"Captain America," Daisy supplied.


	16. Chapter 16

When meeting new, scary looking people, Hunter liked to go with the simple hello.

"Hello, mate," he said.

They nodded in return.

Bobbi and Mack remained silent. Hunter raised his eyebrow.

"This is the part of the conversation where you say hello," he said.

"Hi," said the first stranger. The second stranger nodded again.

"Okay now you say your name, for example, I'm Hunter. Nice to meet you."

The first stranger held out his hand. "I'm Sam, this is Rhodey. Do you know why we're here?"

"Your guess is as good as ours, actually it might be better, cause we are all out of guesses," Hunter said.

Bobbi stepped forward. "Bobbi Morse," she said, shaking their hands. "That's Mack." There was an awkward silence.

"So, what do you, like do for a living?" Hunter said, realizing he should probably get out more.

"We work with the Avengers," said stranger number two whose name was Rhodey.

"The Avengers?" Mack asked.

"We are former agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." Bobbi said.

"How did you get stuck here?" Sam asked.

"We were using an old base as a safe house. It got raided and we ended up here," Bobbi said.

"Were there needles?" Rhodey asked.

"Yeah," said Hunter. "Really annoying old people."

The black masked ninjas returned to the cell and pulled the prisoners out. They put bags on their heads and marched them far. They were shoved into a new bigger cell, hands still chained. The cell was much bigger, more like a cage with all four walls bars. They stayed there for a while until the ninjas came back with other figures. Natasha, Tony, Coulson, May, Fitz, and Jimmons were added to the cage.

"Is everyone okay?" Coulson asked, looking over his team.

"Aren't you dead?" Sam asked, squirting at Coulson.

"I was, it's a long story," Coulson said offhandedly.

"Yes, it's exhausting, heart wrenching, actually," Tony said. "We just had to listen to it, spare yourself."

Natasha just glared. "Wait until I tell Clint, then you'll really be dead," she said.

Hunter raised his hand. "Hate to break up the reunion, but I'd really like to get out of here."

"Okay, let's pool what we know," Coulson said.

"Both were attacked, alarms didn't go off, and sedated with needles. We all woke up in cages," Bobbi said.

"I got a meeting with the guy in charge." Everyone stared at May as she spoke.

"You're just mentioning this now?" Hunter asked incredulously.

"I didn't get his name," May continued. "But the general idea is, he wants to ruin the idea of superheroes. So the world doesn't want you anymore, and most likely they'll lock you up."

"That's not possible," Tony said. "No one can make me do anything."

"You can't pay off everyone, Tony," Natasha sighed.

"Of course I can," Tony scoffed. "That's why I'm rich, so I can do stuff like that."

"Why would he want that?" Rhodey asked.

"The same reason anyone does anything," Hunter said. "The pursuit of happiness, filling a void, maybe divorced parents, or the most popular, he's just a crazy person."

"I'm sorry, who are you again?" Sam asked.

"Let's start with getting out of this cage." Coulson said.

"I didn't hear anything you just said," Tony said. "But our first move should be to get out of this cage."

Coulson rolled his eyes and Natasha smirked, "I agree with Tony."

"Wonderful," said Coulson. "FitzSimmons, do you have anything?"

"From what we can tell, the metal has been enhanced to withstand substantial force," Fitz supplied.

"We can't break it, but there might be a chemical compound to break the bond on the metal, or perhaps a weak spot?" Simmons finished.

Just then the door opened and the black clad warriors entered, Asher Chase in front, Wanda and Vision in back. Vision was still contained in a gel matrix container. Wanda had a yellow metal necklace containing her powers.

Asher stepped forward, "How nice this is, all of you together."

"Who are you?" Natasha growled.

"My name is Asher Chase, I hope you've been comfortable."

"Yeah," Sam said. "The cells and handcuffs are really comfortable."

"Ahh, the brilliant brains of S.H.I.E.L.D.. Miss Simmons, Mr. Fitz, you'll go first." Asher turned away.

Fitz and Simmons were removed from the cell and Wanda was pushed inside. Vision's container was left outside. FitzSimmons were marched away. The guards marched them into an interrogation room. Fitz was pushed into a chair, his arms tied to the sides. A guard

held a gun to Simmons' head and another guard stood armed by the door.

Asher sat down across from Fitz, being sure to give him a full view of Simmons. Fitz watched her nervously.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I want you to tell me everything about S.H.I.E.L.D. not just the good, everything, every detail, every emotion, every hard decision, you made or knew about. Or heard about," Asher said.

"Why would I tell you anything?" Fitz asked, his voice low.

"Because the longer you take the more tired my guard gets, and when he's tired he's got less control over that trigger finger." Fitz looked at Simmons and the guard pointing a gun at her head.

"I like S.H.I.E.L.D." he said. "I don't have anything bad to say about it, except one time May put shaving cream on my hand while I was asleep, and it got smeared all over my face."

"I understand you were injured during your time as an agent."

"That was Ward, he was Hydra, he wasn't S.H.I.E.L.D." Fitz told him.

"I understand Jemma was stuck on a different planet. Tell me how that was handled."

"We got her back, obviously."

"Did S.H.I.E.L.D. encourage the rescue?"

"We all wanted her back,"

"You're not being helpful."

"I am S.H.I.E.L.D., I'm a part of their plans and their missions, and yes sometimes they don't go the way we plan, but we work to make sure that doesn't happen again. Because no matter what we only want what's best for the greater good." Fitz took a breath, surprised by his sudden outburst.

"Loyal, I like that. Tell me about the time Jemma jumped out of a plane."

"It was stupid, no one knew she was going to jump. We were trying to find a cure."

"You were damaged after your seaward tumble, how did the team treat you?"

"It was an adjustment, but everyone only wants what's best."

"Tell me the truth! Did you see Ward again?" Asher was angry, but this was just the beginning, he knew the others had stories that would be more useful to him. "Where is he now? Did S.H.I.E.L.D. take him out? Or perhaps let him go?"

"S.H.I.E.L.D. can handle it." Fitz said.

Asher looked up at his guard. The gun went off, and Simmons cried out in pain, as the bullet pierced her calf. Fitz wildly thrashed against his bindings. Asher leaned toward Fitz. "Are you ready to talk now?"


	17. Chapter 17

Steve thought about Clint when he saw the farm house. He wondered if he was enjoying his retirement. It probably had its ups and downs, a up being family, a low being Clint was probably bored out of his mind. Before the super soldier serum and the ice, maybe he would have been okay with retiring, maybe would have looked forward to it.

But things were different now, he had a team of heroes and a world to look after, a world that needed his help at times like these. The truck was very small. The three of them barely fit, and the bumpy road meant a lot of contact, during the ten minute ride to the farmer's house. Daisy seemed to have recovered from her episode earlier, though her arms were still broken, making her wince with the bumps.

The house was well worn, two stories, painted a light blue color, with violet shutters and trim. It wouldn't have been Steve's first choice.

The farmer, whose name was Greg, gave them free rein of the house and anything they found inside, and left to do some chores. Steve showered and changed his clothes into some borrowed ones from the farmer, which thankfully were just jeans and a t-shirt, not overalls. The farmer had a daughter in college, so Daisy borrowed some of her clothes.

Steve finished first. He made some coffee and eggs because that was pretty much all he knew how to make. Daisy came down to the kitchen just as Steve was putting the pan in the sink. He pushed a plate of food and a cup of coffee toward her.

"Thanks," she said.

"Let me see your arms," Steve said, coming around the counter with a first aid kit. She obliged and he wrapped them up again.

"So, what's the plan?" Daisy asked.

"Well, you said you were a hacker right?"

She nodded.

"We'll see if this guy has a computer, and you can try and hack their system. Whether or not that works I'm going to raid the building." He paused. "Hopefully, you'll come too."

"Of course I'm coming, my team is in there," Daisy said.

"Who's on your team?" he asked. "We should make a list so we don't forget anybody."

"Bobbi, Hunter, Mack, May, FitzSimmons, and-"" she stopped.

"And who?" Steve asked.

"He'd want to tell you himself," Daisy said quietly.

Steve raised an eyebrow, but nodded. "My team is Natasha, Sam, Rhodey, Tony, Wanda, and Vision." Steve said. "Eleven hostages, plus the guy you won't tell me about."

"Actually, twelve hostages, plus the guy I can't tell you about," Daisy corrected. "FitzSimmons is two people."

Steve raised his eyebrows again.

"Leo Fitz and Jemma Simmons, they're scientists."

"From what I could tell the compound is heavily guarded."

"Yeah," Daisy agreed. "Plus the guy in charge is crazy."

"We need to take the base before anyone knows we're there."

"Sounds like a good plan," Daisy said, starting to eat.

Steve just nodded, staring at his food.

"Come on," Daisy said. "Super soldiers don't eat?"

Steve stood up. "We're going to need back up."

"Do we have backup?" Daisy asked uncertainly.

"I'm going to call Fury, see what he has, maybe Barton too, we're in his neck of the woods."

Daisy nodded, "I'll start hacking."

A half an hour later Daisy had everything she needed and left the table to find Steve. Steve, as it turned out, was having a harder time getting what he needed. He was pacing the floor in an adamant conversation with who Daisy assumed was Nick Fury. Steve hung up and turned to see Daisy,

"He said he'll be here in three hours," Steve said.

"Asher Chase is holding a small press conference at his compound. He convinced a small but growing news station to provide the coverage. It's supposed to be about some kind of farm invention or something like that. Anyway, I got us an invitation." Daisy informed him. "It's scheduled to begin in an hour and a half."

Steve looked surprised. "That was fast," he said.

"Yeah, you're welcome." Daisy smiled.

Half an hour later, they sat in the truck outside Asher's compound. The news station had a truck there, with people scurrying around setting up. The compound itself was dark. Steve reached in his pocket and pulled out the syringe labeled Cease.

"Not exactly sure what this is, but it looks like the counter dose for the stuff Asher gave you. You should keep it with you." He said. Daisy pocketed it.

"Thanks."

"So how come I've just heard about you now?" Steve asked.

"What do you mean?" Daisy cocked her head.

"I mean, the Avengers are a team for people with powers, like you. We would have helped you if you had asked."

"I guess I didn't know how, and I did pretty well on my own," Daisy said.

"Yeah. Have you ever gone by a different name?" Steve asked suddenly.

"Well, when I was in the orphanage, they tried to call me Mary Sue Poots, so I called myself Skye. When I found my parents, I also found my real name, which is Daisy."

"You ever go by Tremors?" Steve asked.

"Yeah," Daisy said, surprised. "Mack calls me Tremors. How did you know that?"

"We found a cell phone when we were at your base."

"You were at my base?!" Daisy interrupted.

"Were you on Coulson's team?"

"I, yeah, I am, was on his team." Daisy said.

Steve nodded, "I'm sorry, about what happened to him. It's on me."

"No, its not. Coulson made his own choice."

"Were you close?"

"He's the closest thing I've ever had to family," Daisy sighed.

"When this is over, I'd like it if you could come to the Avengers compound. The other S.H.I.E.L.D. agents too. We could use someone like you on our team," Steve said.

"I'd like that." Daisy smiled


	18. Chapter 18

Natasha sat across from Asher, her hands chained to the table between them. Natasha looked up to where Jemma was held by two guards, a gun trained on her and her leg bleeding freely. Natasha settled her attention on Asher, who was studying her.

"So, tell me. How are you enjoying your stay?" he asked.

Natasha shrugged indifferently. "I've had worse."

Asher nodded. "You've been quite lucky, haven't you?"

"I don't follow," Natasha said.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. gave you an opportunity that it doesn't give to many," Asher leaned forward. "A second chance."

Natasha nodded. "S.H.I.E.L.D. looks out for everyone."

"Any other organization would have put you in jail, but here you are, free. You say you've changed, but you just found another place who valued your skills. You say S.H.I.E.L.D. looks out for everyone, but they just look out for themselves. And you, you play along. You lie for them, steal for them, kill for them, and everyone just lets it slip. Tell me, why do you do it."

Natasha kept her face emotionless and lifted her eyes to Asher's. She remained silent.

"Ah yes, your ledger, all that red, you're still trying to wipe it out, aren't you? Do you really think you can?" He leaned forward. "Drakov's daughter, São Paulo, the hospital fire, yes I know it all."

"How?" Natasha asked.

Asher smiled. "You told me."

"You hacked S.H.I.E.L.D.."

"Yes, I did, and it's been very helpful, knowing all the things no one was ever supposed to know. Eye opening, really."

"When you've won, what then?"

"Then, there will be a time a peace, we have long awaited." Asher smiled.

"And when the peace is over, who will fight your battles then?" Natasha asked.

"We don't need you as much as you think we do," Asher said.

"What do you want?"

"I want you to admit every awful thing you've done, for the world to hear."

"Why don't you just tell them?"

"That wouldn't be very fun, now would it?" Asher stood up. The door opened and more guards rolled in a camera, setting it across from Natasha. The red light blinked to recording.

"Have fun," Asher said as he left the room.

One of the guards removed his mask. Sandy hair, speckled with gray, unshaven tan face, clear blue eyes, with wrinkles beginning to become permanent.

"Hi." His voice was gruff, like sandpaper. Natasha nodded back.

The man took Asher's seat, and nodded to the guards holding Jemma behind him. "We can do this the easy way, or the hard way. What's it gonna be?"

"That all depends," Natasha said.

"State your name for the record."

"Natasha Romanoff."

"Code name?"

"Black Widow, don't you know this already?"

"Relation to Agent Clint Barton?"

"Friends,"

"Why?"

"He saved my life."

"Why did it need saving?"

Natasha sighed and glanced back at Jemma. "I made mistakes in my life, I got set on a path from a young age, brainwashed really. Clint gave me another chance to get things right."

"Did you set the hospital fire?" Natasha took a breath, she tried to slow her heart. She looked straight into the camera. "No," she said.

The gun fired and Jemma cried out. Natasha look at her blood flowing from a bullet wound in her thigh as well as the one in her calf of the same leg.

"Did you set the hospital fire?"

"I did," Natasha admitted. "I didn't realize what I was doing, I was under orders from the KGB, they kept me obedient by," she shivered for effect, "Horrible means."

It wasn't a lie, it just took the edge off her words.

She dropped her head, and whispered, "I regret it every day."

The man across from her glared. She looked at the camera with sad eyes.

"S.H.I.E.L.D. gave me a new life," she said. The recording probably wouldn't be used now, or edited to twist her words but if anyone were to see it, she figured she'd beef it up a little. "A chance to rewrite the wrongs of my past. When you grow up the way I did, all you know is how to lie and kill. You see all the worst parts of humanity. I didn't know how to be any other way, but S.H.I.E.L.D. taught me things, how to be a good person. I am forever grateful, for the new life they gave me."

She smiled at the man, over the camera.


	19. Chapter 19

Asher left the room with Natasha in it and crossed to another one identical to the first, except Coulson was waiting there. He sat down across from Coulson.

Asher mentally reviewed what he knew about the man. He was glad he had waited until everything was in order to set his plan into motion. It had taken two spies in S.H.I.E.L.D,. one in Hydra, a hacker, and a lot of money, because as it turned out agents were easily bought. It had been hard to wait, but right now Asher knew it had been worth it.

"Agent," Asher said. "I have to admit to you what an absolute honor it is to meet you."

Coulson raised an eyebrow. "If it was a meeting you wanted, I'm sure we could have set something up, but this seems a little dramatic."

"It's not everyday one meets a good man in this business," Asher continued. "You're so relatable to the public. It's a shame you have to be caught up in this. It could ruin your image."

"Was there something you wanted to ask me?" Coulson asked. "I'm all ears."

"I want you to tell me how you died, and why it is that you are not dead anymore. I'm sure it is a very interesting story." Guards rolled in a camera and set it up across from Coulson.

"I was critically injured just before the battle of New York. Fortunately for me I was transported to a hospital and lived to tell the tale. I never died, that's just a rumor."

A guard knocked on the door. He peeked through the door, his mask hanging around his neck.

"Hey boss, those reporters are getting pretty restless," he reported, and left.

"Reporters?" Coulson asked. "What, are we not interesting enough for you?"

"Why is it that you remained at S.H.I.E.L.D.?"

Coulson took a moment and contemplated his answer. "The people. We're a family, we don't give up on each other. The big buildings and secret bases are fun and all that but when it comes down to it S.H.I.E.L.D. was never a place, or even a person. It was an idea, and it continues through my agents. Loyalty, bravery, sacrifice, friendship, love, hope. My agents inspire me everyday. Inspires the good we could do for this world. What inspires you? Mr..." Coulson trailed off, realizing he didn't have a name.

"Asher, Asher Chase," Asher supplied. "Mr. Chase, what is your inspiration?"

Coulson leaned forward. "Peace, a place for everything, safety, the ability to trust. I am sure your agents as wonderful as they are don't trust many people."

"You, my friend are a dreamer."

Coulson smiled. "But do you honestly believe that we don't want that?"

"As powerful as you are, shouldn't you have achieved it already?"

"It's not that simple. It sounds good, and it is until someone gets a gun and brings it to a school, or a store, or a plane. Until someone isn't satisfied being ordinary and goes digging into stuff they shouldn't. Then what?"

"Then we solve it together, it would make us stronger."

"So what do you want from me?" Coulson leaned forward.

"I hear that the story of your resurrection is not a very humane one. I think that for the world to decide who to trust they need the whole story. What do you think?"

"I agree that they should know any stories that are important to their safety, at an appropriate time. That story is not one of them. And even if it was everything that happened has been taken care off. You're a little late to the party."

"What happened here is of little consequence to what happens out there," Asher said. His voice held anger. "So you can tell me what happened, or the story will probably come out later, from someone else who doesn't care who is hurt along the way."

"Are you threatening me?" Coulson asked, unconcerned.

"I, yes," Asher leaned back. "Yes I absolutely am." He stood up and left to meet his reporters, to meet his future.

Daisy was pretty sure she had day-dreamed this event before joining S.H.I.E.L.D., maybe even during her time as an agent, in a car with Captain America, and he may or may not have kissed her. Except this was boring, and her team was in danger, and she was hurt. But other than that, exactly the same.

For as boring as it was through, Steve was good company, and the silences aren't awkward, so that was a plus.

"20 minutes," Daisy informed.

"Roger," Steve squinted out the window. The sun was beginning to set.

"Should we begin our perfectly formulated plan?"

He looked over at her, an amused look on this face. "Yeah, let's do that."

They left the car and joined the agitated pack of reporters and camera men waiting. As they did the big compound door opened and Asher himself walked out, his long coat tails flying behind him in the slight wind.

"Do you think he got the idea for the coat from Fury?" Daisy whispered to Steve. He hid his grin.

"Hello, hi, how are you all. Thank you for coming out. I promise you are not wasting your time. If you'd like to come inside we'll be starting in a minute."

He retreated back inside and the crowd followed him. Daisy and Steve followed, losing themselves in the rush. Inside was dark and dank.

"Split up now or wait to see what happens?" Daisy whispered.

Before Steve could answer, the room began to shake. He looked at her sharply.

"It's not me."

Red wispy smoke began to curl around the corners.

"Wanda," Steve breathed. "You think they gave her the same stuff they gave you?"

"It's possible," Daisy replied.

"Do you have anyone on your team with powers?" Steve asked hurriedly.

"No, just me," Daisy said.

"Let's split up," Steve said, then hesitated, looking down at Daisy.

She huffed. "I can take care of myself," she said, and brushed away down a hallway.

Steve took the other. Daisy crept along. The hallway kept getting smaller and she was beginning to think that she should have picked the other one. It was a dead end, however at the end there were two doors one of which voice could be heard from.

She stood with her back to the door that had voices and gently pushed the door a crack open. Monitors and about two guards laughing about a football game. She took another step, still undetected.

She burst through the door, and shoved the first guard's head into the monitors in front of him, kicking the gun out of his hand. She used the momentum from the kick to swing her body around and use her other foot to kick him in the stomach, sending him into a wall.

"Yeah," she said to herself, nodding. "I can take care of myself."

She used handcuffs she found on the guards to cuff then to each other, then to a chair. She settled herself at the desk and clicked through the monitors. She found surveillance of her team in cells and some other people, some of whom she recognized as superheroes.

The guard behind her groaned. She was about to knock him out again when the phone rang. Daisy grabbed it and pointed a gun from the table in front of her in the man's face.

"You are going to answer the phone. You will act normal, and tell whoever is calling that everything is fine. Or I will shoot you and your friend. Got it?" she asked in her toughest voice.

The guard swallowed and nodded. Daisy clicked the phone on and a sandpapery voice rang through. "Part E is in motion. All good so far?"

Daisy pushed the gun into the guard's head and raised her eyebrows.

"All good here," he said.

Daisy awarded him with a smile.

"Let me know if anything changes."

"Will do." The call ended.

"Good," Daisy praised. "What is part E?"

The guard hesitated. Daisy pointed the gun at the other unconscious guard. "Tell me or he gets it."

"It means that Wanda Maximoff has been injected with the Invoke serum."

"The Invoke serum, is that what Asher gave me?" The guard nodded.

"How do you reverse the effects?" Daisy asked.

"There is another serum called Cease that would reverse the effect."

"That's not what happened to me."

"You regenerate fast so maybe that has something to do with it, but if you were to be injected again you would have no immune system for it and it will overcome you. Wanda has no such fast healing or immunity and she doesn't use her powers the way you do so she will need Cease."

"Okay, fun. So the plan is to get have heroes lose control of their powers and the reporters are going to spread the word?"

The guard nodded. Daisy looked back at the monitors. She found the screen with the prisoners in a big cage. She found another screen with Wanda in it. The room was clouded with smoke. As Daisy watched the feed clouded over and the screen cracked.


	20. Chapter 20

Steve crept down the smoky hallway. He remembered creeping down a different smoky hallway, on his way to rescue Bucky, and fear clenched his heart. He remembered the first time he'd seen Wanda. He remembered how he had seen himself in her scared eyes.

The halway branched off a couple times and Steve followed the one with the most red smoke. He came to a big door with steel locks. Red wisps seemed to pull at him, bringing him closer.

He stepped forward and threw his shoulder into the door. It made a groaning sound like the wood was breaking. He rammed his shoulder into it again, and again until the wood splintered.

Steve burst into room, ready for the fight he was sure would come. Instead he was met with a room full of thick red smoke that clouded his vision. Steve held his hands out in front of him. Every muscle in his body was tense, every sense tingling.

"Wanda!" Steve called out to the smoke.

He blinked and suddenly the room was clear, empty, and silent. Somewhere to his left, a clock continued to tick.

Time seemed to slow, his limbs felt like they were moving through molasses. A door closed behind him and Steve whirled around. She walked toward him, her black heels clicking on the floor, a red dress swishing at her knees, her curls bouncing at her shoulders. Her red lips broke into a smile, those dark eyes sparkled. She stopped in front of him, so close he could smell the scent of cinnamon and vanilla.

"You're late for our dance," she said, she accented voice washing over him. Steve opened his mouth but before he could speak someone laughed over his shoulder.

"I'm invisible. Oh no I'm turning into you, this is a nightmare." Bucky's smile reflected that he was only joking.

Peggy slipped her hand through Steve's arm and guided him to the floor.

"I don't dance," Steve whispered. "I'd only step on your feet."

She leaned closer. "Maybe you just haven't danced with the right partner yet."

And then she' was gone and Steve was back in the clouded room, clutching at the empty space she should have been in. That hole in his chest throbbing with no way to ease the pain. The red smoke seemed to fill his lungs, making him choke.

"Wanda," he called out, shaking himself from the vision.

Wanda stepped forward,making herself visible.

"Wanda," Steve breathed in relief, stepping forward, arms out. Wanda recoiled.

"No," she gasped. "Don't come any closer. I don't want to hurt you."

"You won't," Steve kept his palms up. "It's okay, everything's gonna be fine."

"I can't control it." Wanda sounded on the verge of tears.

"I know. It's okay. Okay?"

It broke Steve's heart to see Wanda in pain. She was almost like a little sister to him, and he could feel the anger rising in his chest ready to burst out. Steve reached out and grabbed her elbows. He looked down into her eyes that were glowing with red energy. Her sweaty tangled hair framed her terrified face. "I'm gonna get you out, it'll be okay. I promise."

"Hey," a voice called from behind, accompanied by quick footsteps making Wanda jump.

"Hey relax it's me," Daisy said, coming up to them. "Here," she said, handing them the Cease syringe. "I was able to confirm that this is the antidote for Invoke."

Steve injected Wanda without hesitation. The smoke began to dissipate almost at once. The glowing in Wanda's eyes disappeared. She staggered, suddenly dizzy with exhaustion. Steve reached out and grabbed her to support her.

"Okay, so out that hallway, three lefts two rights then left again is the rest of the prisoners."

Steve looked down at Wanda who was trying to compose herself.

"I'm alright," she said.

"Let's go," Steve nodded.

The trio moved down the halway. After the first two left turns they encountered two rows of guards kneeling on the ground, long guns pointed at them. Daisy stepped forward as the bullets began to fly toward them. She raised her hands and pushed the air toward them, sending the bullets back into them and the guards flying back through the wall.

"Well," Steve said after a moment of stunned silence. "That's," he paused.

"Helpful." Daisy smiled over her shoulder and kept walking. Another left, and a right and then Daisy stopped, her face scrunching into a frown.

"What?" Steve asked apprehensively.

"Someone's in there." Daisy said nodding to the door on the left side of the halway. Daisy brushed her fingertips over the wooden surface. She pushed the air through the lock, breaking it. She pushed the door open and swallowed her next breath.

"Hi," she said uncertaintly. "Um, Agent? Yeah, well _someone's_ here to see you."

Daisy stepped inside the room. Steve peeked inside in time to watch Phil Coulson rise from the chair he had been bound to. He felt the blood drain from his face. He opened his mouth to say something but then closed it again. He crossed his arms and scratched the side of his face.

"You, uh, you're the, um." He looked helplessly at Daisy. "He's the surprise guy?"

Daisy nodded hesitantly.

"But, um, you're kind of. Uh, you're dead. You've actually been dead for like a long time?"

Coulson sighed looking at his feet. "Captain, it's good to see you."

"Yeah, it's good to see you. How are you alive, exactly?"

"Fury had this S.H.I.E.L.D. program to bring me back. Don't worry, the program's down."

"So how long have you been - No I'm not going to ask," Steve said, stepping forward, his shock giving way to anger. "But after this is all over I want the whole story. And I want to have a little talk with Fury."

"Of course."

"Should we get moving?" Daisy asked tentatively.

"Yep," Steve said, trying to shake the overwhelming feeling of betrayal. "Let's go get everyone back."

He couldn't help but look at her different. She had lied, well not lied exactly, just not told him. Steve straightened his shoulders as he walked, trying to project the confidence he didn't feel. He tried to ignore the feeling that he was walking into a fight with people who had proven their loyalty did not lay with him.


	21. Chapter 21

Tony was not used to not getting his way. He was not used to people keeping secrets from him that he couldn't find out, and he certainly was not used to being talked back to by a stranger.

He crossed his arms and leaned forward slightly. Natasha was helping to bandage Jemma who was looking pale. They'd all been returned to the previous cell. Wanda, Coulson, and Vision were missing. Tony reflected, as he often avoided to do that everything had gone very wrong. Anger bubbled beneath the surface, this feeling of betrayal was one that Tony actively tried to avoid. It was the one that Fury always ignited. Natasha raised her eyebrows at him.

"I thought you were the brains. Are you just gonna stand there?"

"I'm working on it, Romanov," Tony sighed.

The guard outside grunted and another went flying. Everyone was instantly on high alert, reaching for weapons that weren't there.

The outside became a blur. Guards fell quickly. Steve stepped out of the shadows, the girl from the picture at his side, and Wanda on the other side.

"You're late, old man," Tony said.

"I know," Steve said.

Coulson stepped into the room. He walked up to the enclosure and inserted a key. The wall of the cage sank into the ground and the captives rushed from their prison, Natasha and Bobby supporting Jemma on either side.

"What's our play?" Natasha asked.

"We need to find Vision. This guy has reporters everywhere, so we need to make sure that we get the out safe. We need to get the guy in charge and shut down all operations." Steve looked out over his team, the new and the old.

"Tony and Coulson will take the reporters. Coulson, take two of your agents." Coulson nodded.

"Bobbi, and Hunter you're with us."

"Okay, Sam, Rhodey, go with May." Steve said, remembering May from his time at S.H.I.E.L.D.

"Find Vision and get him out. Wanda, take her," Steve gestured to Jemma who was growing more wobbly every minute, "and get out."

"Take Fitz with you," Coulson added.

"Great, then I'll take Natasha and Daisy and we'll find the man responsible." Steve nodded. "Good luck everyone."

They depart. Tony took his group and started down the hall. Coulson caught up with him.

"Just to be clear, I am in charge here," Tony said.

"Of course," Coulson replied.

"Okay, cause you say that but I'm getting the distinct feeling that no one believes it."

"You are definitely in charge, no question about it."

After navigating the windy passageways, avoiding groups of guards the group found the reporter room. The reports stood up as they entered.

"Hello everyone," Tony stepped up to the podium like he had been born to be on stage. "As you all should know my name is Tony Stark, this," he gestured to Coulson, "is Phil Coulson, former almost director of S.H.I.E.L.D. and two former agents. I am here on the behalf of the Avengers to inform you that we are working to find jobs for all these good people. The threat that Hydra was is gone, and look what I'm trying to say is- we're good, everything's fine for everyone. Sure the world's a mess but we're here to help, we're trying to fix things. Because I'm just gonna say it, we care a lot about what happens to you. All of you. We're on your side. The Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. we are the good guys. So I just wanted to reassure everyone and whatever so we're all done here. Okay, bye."

Tony jumped off the podium and walked to the door, waving for people to leave. Bobbi and Hunter jumped in to corral people toward the door. It took a while but they managed to clear the room, sending people on their way.

"Okay, let's go find Cap." Tony said, turning to leave the now empty room and enter the maze of passageways.

"Are you-" Coulson began but Tony cut him off.

"Nu huh, I'm in charge. Let's go, I need a computer."

"I have to admit this is more exciting than chasing cold leads on missing persons cases." Sam remarked.

"Maybe, but I'd rather be on the attacking side," Rhodey relied.

"What about you?" Sam asked May, "How does this compare to your missions?" May glared at him. "Okay, no talking, thats cool." Sam raised his hands in mock surrender. They turned the corner and encountered a group of guards on routine surveillance. The fight lasted a few minutes, it was filled with the grunts and gunshots, and crashing bodies. Heavy breathing filled the room until Sam, Rhodey, and May stood over the unconscious bodies of the guards. They each took a gun and continued on the way. They ended up traveling in circles for what felt like hours.

"Who let you be in front?" Rhodey whispered to Sam in frustration.

"What, you think you could do better? This place is the freaking labyrinth." Sam whispered back.

"Turn right." May said brushing past and taking the right passageway. Eventually they found the containment module holding. Vision was suspended in orange goop. They searched the unit looking for some kind of release, to no avail. The surrounding computers provided no help either. As a last resort they began to see if they could move the whole container. Footsteps from the hallway outside brought the small group to alert, raising their weapons, and preparing to fight. A thin young man with wild brown hair stepped in flanked by two guards at each side. Sam, Rhodey, and May quickly overwhelmed him. Sam pointed his gun at the wilded haired man.

"Get Vision out of the goop,"

"I don't think I should."

"I don't remember asking."


End file.
